Boeing Loses Trade Dispute with Bombardier

February 1, 2018

Round one in the trade dispute between Bombardier and Boeing has gone to the Canadian plane maker.

The U.S. International Trade Commission recently voted unanimously that Boeing was not harmed by Bombardier’s C Series jet. The U.S. Commerce Department would have imposed tariffs of nearly 300 percent on Bombardier if the Commission had ruled that there was substance in the American aerospace giant’s allegation that the Canadian plane maker’s “illegal trade practices” were harmful to its business.

Boeing had alleged that Bombardier unfairly benefited from government bailout subsidies. and was thus able to sell its new C Series airliner to Delta Air Lines at “absurdly low prices” in violation of U.S. trade rules. Bombardier had all along held that Boeing did not have a comparable plane to the C Series jet, to offer Delta. In 2016, Delta ordered up to 125 of the 110-seat C Series jets

While Bombardier termed the decision as “a victory for innovation, competition, and the rule of law,” Boeing said it was “disappointed” that the International Trade Commission did not recognize the harm that it had suffered from the billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies that the Department of Commerce found Bombardier received and used to dump aircraft in the U.S. small single-aisle airplane market.”

This may not be the last that one hears about the case. Boeing has the right to appeal the case to either the Court of International Trade, part of the U.S. Federal Court System, or to a review panel organized under the NAFTA.

Boeing Loses Trade Dispute with Bombardier was last modified: February 8th, 2018 by Arun Sivasankaran